Dayton Public Schools (Ohio) Preparing for Strike

Dayton Public Schools will be open for the Aug. 15 start of school, regardless of whether teachers are on strike, Superintendent Rhonda Corr said.

DPS is working with a company called Alternative Workforce, Inc., a subsidiary of the strike-staffing company Huffmaster, which has provided teachers to other school districts that have had strikes....

article by Jeremy P. Kelley

http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/strike-not-dayton-schools-will-open-aug/PuDpUqAmk2W4Z5C4QI7N9N/

Another report here:
http://wyso.org/post/dayton-teachers-file-10-day-strike-notice-negotiations-resume

Fresno County librarians scab their own strike

The Fox affiliate in Fresno County is reporting that librarians in the Fresno County Library system are actually scabbing their own strike, with the help of volunteer scabs mentioned in the previous post.  According to the report, "16 of the county's 34 libraries stayed open thanks to union workers who did report to work and volunteers."

So this is not just a management ploy; union library workers themselves are undermining their union and the labor movement as a whole by crossing the picket line to keep libraries open while SEIU brothers and sisters are out on strike.  Perhaps this is a misguided attempt to keep everyone happy and is being done with good intentions, but we all know what the road to hell is paved with.

I sent emails to the Fresno County Library system yesterday and was referred to the County Chief Administrative Officer (I haven't heard back from that person, though).  I also sent a message to the executive of SEIU Local 521 about this situation and have not heard from them at all.  I encourage anyone reading this to ask SEIU Local 521 why their members are scabbing this strike and what role the union administration is playing in this undermining of the labor movement.

Fresno County Library actively recruiting scabs

Fresno County (California) Library has apparently lost its collective mind and any semblance of solidarity by actively recruiting volunteer scabs to run the library in the event of an SEIU strike.  The potential strike would not just be by library workers but by thousands of county workers. It is unclear if SEIU members are actively recruiting scabs or if it's solely management, though.

Furthermore, what kind of person would scab for free?  A scab, as Jack London noted, is a "two-legged animal with a corkscrew soul, a water brain, a combination backbone of jelly and glue" but it's commonly known that their primary motivation is selfish profit.  So what does that say about a person willing to scab for free?

I encourage anyone reading this to contact Fresno County Library employees Roberta Barton at 559-600-6274, roberta.barton@fresnolibrary.org or Susan Mann at 559- 600-6224, susan.mann@fresnolibrary.org to ask them why they are acting like scab-herders against their own library.  You could also contact SEIU 521 to see if the rest of the union is aware of this plan.